Producing A Series of Explainer Videos: An Interview with Larry Broome

Larry Broome, former Marketing Manager at Comet Technologies, had just six weeks to prepare for an international trade show tour. His solution: create a series of five animated explainer in videos with Switch Video to promote Comet and their products. Larry took his series of videos to Semicon West and then translated them into multiple languages for Semicon China.

In our interview, Larry tells us about the specific challenges the video series helped him solve, his advice to marketing managers making videos as well as the unexpected sales use of the video series.

How did you use your explainer video series?
“We used the series at different trade shows worldwide. At each product station the individual video for that particular product was playing and at the front [of the booth] it was all of the videos looping to form one longer video. It allowed us to introduce our existing customers to products they didn’t know we had in a way that related to what they were already buying. And totally new customers could see the entire picture right away.”

Why choose to develop a video series rather than just one video?
“With Comet’s different products it was easier and clearer to feature them as stand alone videos. And we could also deliver a cohesive message when the separate product videos were shown together in a loop with a company overview video at the start.”

What did you learn producing Comet’s video series?
“Our first video was an overview of the company, and the learning process started there. I got an understanding of how many thoughts you can get across so they are received in the way you want.

Any tips or best practices for marketing managers producing videos?
“Yes! The best practice I found was, trust the Switch Video team to tell you what will make the videos really “pop”. And trust your own instincts to decide which of your business’s goals and expectations are most important for the series. Everything else will fall into place. If the video team tells you are trying to accomplish too much — you are. In addition, make sure the communication channels are wide open between you and the video team. Keep an open mind and share your thoughts.”

Why is a video an effective medium?
“I felt that an explainer video series was not only more engaging on many levels but also did a better job of explaining than other marketing tools at our disposal. It engages more of the senses than any other medium, other than live..which is hard to do and get a message to a larger audience. As well, the video could be used in a variety of ways.”

Any ways in particular?
“Have it [the video series] on your laptop to use as ammo when needed, [it] helps to keep a cohesive message throughout your company.”

What do you see as the future of explainer videos?
“There is no end of complex things that need explaining….if there was there would be no ‘for dummies’ books. And explainer video is actually a much better way to explain complex ideas and products than those books.”